Sunday, May 11, 2008

Going to the Dogs


Went to the Freud Playhouse at UCLA last night to see the Reprise Theatre Company's production of Kander and Ebb's "Flora the Red Menace." (This is the musical that garnered a 19 year-old Liza Minelli her first Tony Award.)

It's not a very strong show and certainly before Kander and Ebb hit their peak form. The cast is lead by Eden Espinosa (who recently played Elphaba in the Hollywood sit-down production of "Wicked" and Manoel Felciano (who was nominated for a Tony in 2006 for his portrayal of Tobias Ragg in "Sweeney Todd") and they each do a fine job. But Katherine Von Till (www.katherinevontill.com) steals the show with her comic performance as Elsa, the communist uber-organizer.

The lady in the photo above has season tickets on the same night that I do. Whenever I go to Reprise on my scheduled night I always see her, and her dog, sitting two rows in front of me. And last night a lady sitting behind me also had a dog in her lap during the show. What's up with that?

I suppose they could be service dogs. I wonder what sort of service they provide? Maybe they're trained to detect a really bad musical and in the case of one they drag their owner out of the theater by the sleeve.

The dog in front of me, despite having a front row lap, kept staring back at me during the Second Act. Always up for a challenge, I stared back. Perfect -- go to the theater to see a show and end-up in a stare down contest with a teacup poodle.
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1 comment:

James said...

Perhaps doggie woggie saw you snap her mommy's photo and her "in-service" is to protect against the paparazzi. Hence, the stare down.